GOLF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23106, 4 February 1937, Page 4

GOLF

By Divot

FIXTURES FOR WEEK-END Otago.—St. Andrew's Cross Stroke. St Clair.—Monthly Stroke Competition. St. Clair v. Commercial Travellers' Club. Taieri Club.—Mixed Foursome. The month of January, even when no such circumstances as unseasonable weather and epidemics of infantile paralysis exercise their malign influences, is not one in which competitive golf is greatly practised. The game, so far as its loyal devotees are concerned, does not suffer on this account and the links are usually as crowded on January week-ends as on even the best autumn day. This state of affairs may be more noticeable in places which are blessed, as Dunedin is, with climates which do not oppress us with hot, sultry days. The St. Clair Club, as usual, is in the forefront of things, and last week it held a Fourball Bogey Handicap for members. Despite a rather threatening sky and a fairly strong wind this event was well patronised and the cards which were returned showed a high standard of golf under trying conditions. The winners, E. Doogue and E. Bolwell, both played golf of a nature which will bring them under the eye of the club handicapper, who will be ready now, with only the slightest

provocation, to reduce their handicaps to figures which will more justly denote their golfing ability. Their winning score of 7 up under such weather difficulties is highly commendable, and is one which completely dashed the aspirations of the club captain and his partner, J. E. Macassey and J. E. Matheson, who were, with a score of 5 up, hopeful of success. The Lucifer Golfing Society's annual Empire Overseas Tournament will be held this year on July 5,7, and 8. Stroke rounds will be played on the courses of the Stoke Poges, Oxhey, and Moor Park Clubs on July 5, and approximately 34 players with the lowest net scores will qualify from each course to play in the final 36 holes against bogey at Walton Heath on July 7 and 8. The finalists at Walton Heath will be the guests of the Lucifier Golfing Society at their Empire dinner, which will be held on the night of July 8 at the Savoy Hotel. TURNS PROFESSIONAL Jack M'Lean, the brilliant 26-year-old Scots golfer, who visited New Zealand in 1934, has turned professional. M'Lean has been the Scottish amateur champion on three occasions, and was also a British Walker Cup player. Last September a stymie robbed him of the American Amateur Championship, which he lost to J. Fisher at the thirtyseventh hole. Had he won he would have been the first British player to win the title for 25 years. M'Lean, who has been a whisky salesman, has

signed a contract with the newlyformed Buchanan Castle Golf Club, near Glasgow. M'Lean says that he is sorry to turn professional, but that he found amateur golf too expensive. He intends to compete in the important professional tournaments and in the British Open Championship. FLEXIBLE WRISTS Hands and wrists play a large part in the golfer's swing. Strong wrists do not necessarily mean a good golfer, for these muscles may have sacrificed their suppleness for strength. If, instead of trying to hit with his shoulders or body, the average golfer would think of hitting with his hands and wrists, he would gain a belter picture of just how the club-head should work. One way to gain the proper feeling of the club-head coming on to the ball is to loosen the muscles of the wrist until the hands seem to hang loosely from them, apparently ready to fall off. The fingers must grip the club firmly enough, l but, properly held, the clubhead will appear like the weight at the end of a string. In this way Hie body can be brought gradually into the swing, the hands and wrists waiting to help (lie club-head through. One thus gets the feeling of cracking a whip. ST. CLAIR SECRETARY RETIRES Mr W. W. Clayton, who, as secretary of the St. Clair Golf Club for the last 16 years, has played an important part in the building of that club to its present eminent position, has resigned from the secretaryship. " Mr Clayton has ablv filled this important position during a lengthy period, and his retirement now is a distinct loss to the club. He must, however, have the satisfaction of knowing that his name is closely associated with an important period in the history of the club as he has seen it more than double its membership while the course has risen from a paddock where the growth of grass was controlled by the grazing of sheep to one where immaculate fairways and greens inspire the members to have justifiable hopes of rivalling other championship courses in New Zealand. That Mr Clayton's resignation is due to the calls of more responsible commercial undertakings is a fact which is regrettable from the point of view of the club, but a matter for congratulation from his fellow members, who are